How the UK recycles millions of dirty old disposable coffee cups

The eight scientific breakthroughs set to revolutionise our future

A scientific breakthrough can unlock long-standing problems and have the potential to have a long-term impact on human wellbeing. But which UK project thrilled and amazed us in 2016?

07 Oct 2016

Friday 7 October 2016

Science is the scaffolding on which innovation is built. From quantum computers to 3D-printed organs, genetic tweaking and super-strong materials, the future is being cooked up every day in university labs, R&D units and experimental institutions.

Scientific innovation – from astrophysics to zoology – is exciting and it’s happening all the time in the UK, as proven by the number of British science-related biopics released in recent years. The nation that spearheaded a scientific revolution in the 17th century is, of course, the birthplace of Isaac Newton, DNA pioneers Crick and Watson, and inventor of the web Tim Berners-Lee.

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Looking back, 2016 will likely be remembered as a thrilling year in science. In February, researchers at the LIGO project announced that they had detected gravitational waves – likely produced by two merging black holes – confirming a century-old Einstein hypothesis. Less than a month later, the Hubble Space Telescope spotted the farthest galaxy ever detected (GN-z11), some 13.4 billion light-years from Earth.

But it’s not all been space news. German physicists have turned on the Stellarator – a device to help study nuclear fusion. US biologists have frozen a rabbit’s brain, and then thawed it without damage in a breakthrough for cryopreservation. Graphene has been mooted as a way to build neural implants, and a new cancer-spotting microscope has been designed.

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Highlights from the first WIRED Audi Innovation Awards

We asked a team of science experts to nominate which were the most relevant UK scientific discoveries that have happened in 2016. Each nominee has worked tirelessly to unlock problems or scientific endeavours that have the potential for positive impact on human wellbeing.

Which of them will be awarded WIRED’s Scientific Breakthrough award?

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The Judges

Athene DonaldA physicist and author of over 250 papers on soft matter and the physics of biology.

Roger HighfieldHighfield is a prolific scientific writer and ex-Daily Telegraph and New Scientist editor.

Imran KhanKhan promotes science as the head of public engagement at the Wellcome Trust.

The highlights and winners of the inaugural WIRED Audi Innovation Awards

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The Nominees

Henry SnaithSnaith is currently researching how to develop low-cost energy harvesting concepts, focusing on sunlight as the power source. He is the group leader of Oxford University’s Photovoltaic and Optoelectronic Device Group.

Sheila RowanRowan’s research at the University of Glasgow contributed to a significant breakthrough in 2016, detecting gravitational waves for the first time. It proved a 100-year-old theory conceived by Albert Einstein.

Magdalena Zernicka-GoetzUsing molecular and cellular mechanisms, Zernicka-Goetz is building new tools to enable the study of embryonic development. Cell differentiation in human embryos is being understood better by working with mouse tissue.

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DeepMind and OpenBionics among the winners at the WIRED Audi Innovation Awards

ByRowland Manthorpe

Guillem Anglada-EscudéWith the Pale Red Dot project, Anglada-Escudé is showing the public “definitive evidence” of a new, habitable, Earth-like planet in orbit around Proxima Centauri – Earth’s second nearest star after our own Sun.

Waseem QasimAt Great Ormond Street, Qasim is working on new forms of leukaemia treatment. His approach – which creates immune cells and kills drug-resistant forms of the disease – has cured two children with leukaemia.

Demis HassabisHassabis is the founder of DeepMind, the Google-owned firm poised to develop true AI. DeepMind Health is working with the NHS to apply machine learning to new cancer treatments at the University College London Hospital.

Peter KazanskyKazansky’s team of scientists at the University of Southampton is using specially nanostructured glass to store information. The technique allows for up to 360TB of disc data capacity, with stability at temperatures of up to 1,000°C.

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Kathy NiakanIn February, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) granted Niakan a licence to edit the genes of human embryos for research at The Francis Crick Institute. It’s the first time such work – studying differentiation during human development – will have taken place.